11/23/24
June 25, 2003
Umpire Intimidation System: "Major League Baseball umpires are fighting the QuesTec Umpire Information System, a series of cameras that track each pitch and compare the machine's ruling with the ump's call." [system diagram]
posted by kirkaracha to baseball at 04:26 PM - 11 comments
I, for one, welcome our new strike-calling overlords. The new silicon kind! As opposed the the fleshy kind that call labour strikes in addition to the pitch kind. The funny thing? the Questech system with all the cameras and computers and servers probably weighs the same 300 pounds as an umpire. OK, really, I am interested in the technology and the development of it and hopes it leads to making the wet and squishy kind of umpires better.
posted by gspm at 05:12 PM on June 25, 2003
SF Chronicle's 6/15 Questec article. Nice details about the guy working the machine and how strike zone lines are drawn and calculated. Also includes a player's (Curt Schilling) perspective: "The Arizona pitcher didn't bother with words last month; he took a bat and smashed one of the system's cameras." Hahahahahaha.
posted by worldcup2002 at 10:15 PM on June 25, 2003
I'm fully in favor of the ques-tec system. I like the consistancy it brings, and I firmly believe that an umpire who insists on having his "Personal strike zone" is entitled to nothing other than his own personal unemployment check. Next up for the axe, the mokes in the NBA that call travelling 7 out of every1500 times they see it.
posted by Scottymac at 12:52 AM on June 26, 2003
"[Schilling] didn't bother with words last month; he took a bat and smashed one of the system's cameras." can you blame him? thanks to questec, schilling's home park has a miniscule strike zone.
posted by kjh at 03:37 AM on June 26, 2003
Hmmmph. I admit there's a modicum of unfairness in the old way, with strike zones varying from park to park and from ump to ump, but I see that as part of the fabric of the game. I like watching how catchers work the umps, moving another inch in or away just to see where the ump's boundary is. I like to watch batters adjust (or not adjust) to the strike zone their second, third, and fourth time up in a game. I like the variety. As long as an individual ump is consistent (like always endeavoring to give the batter the inside corner, always reliably giving the pitcher the outside corner) then both teams should be able to recognize it and be on equal footing. Baseball does not have to be completely standardized. What if all parks had exactly the same dimensions? The same surfaces? The same domed stadiums? Both leagues had exactly the same rules? All games played at the same times under the same environmental conditions? Some subjectivity is a good thing, IMHO.
posted by vito90 at 08:49 AM on June 26, 2003
By the way, one last thing. Curt Schilling is an ass for what he did. Taking a bat to somebody else's property is uncool. I hope he was fined and at the very least forced to pay restitution for damage, because that is serious third-grade behavior. It's like Clemens demanding to wear a Yankee hat in the HOF. Shut up and pitch, Curt, and let decision-makers make decisions.
posted by vito90 at 08:52 AM on June 26, 2003
I think the questec system is severely flawed, but I would like to see it improved, and then umpires eliminated. The concept of the umpire setting the strike zone, and each one being different has always bugged the hell out of me.
posted by corpse at 09:32 AM on June 26, 2003
I think most of the blame rests on the umpires for being luddites; but the system itself isn't getting great reviews. Schilling is a very tech-friendly guy, and he's clearly frustrated with it. If I'm MLB and Questec, I'd do my best to have a consistent placement of the cameras across ballparks, paying special attention to having them centered on the plate. I'd also sit down with all the umps and explain how the system works so that they don't look at them voodoo electronics. I've always thought the umps were WAY overpaid anyways.
posted by mbd1 at 10:45 AM on June 26, 2003
Uhhh, guys? Just because this thing calls balls and strikes doesn't mean you could get rid of umpires ... how about calling plays at the plate? Giving time to a batter? Having umpired small-peanuts stuff for a long time (and played for 15 years or so), I love having umpires around. Besides ... you think Lou Pinella's gonna go apeshit on a computer? By the way ... if they could make robot umpires that acted like Bender, I'd be down. Totally.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:56 AM on June 26, 2003
I say keep the umpires, but use the technology to help them call strikes according to the rules:
The STRIKE ZONE is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hallow beneath the knee cap. [strike zone history/diagram]My favorite thing about this is that it sounds like you can reduce the strike zone by wearing low-slung pants. I started to wonder why teams hadn't adopted hip-hugger unis to take advantage of this, but considering the physiques of some of the ballplayers, it's probably a good thing they didn't.
posted by kirkaracha at 01:58 PM on June 26, 2003
Wired's Tong Long says "It's bad for umpires and, ultimately, bad for the game." Paul Baim, QuesTec's director of development, answered a few questions on Scientific American's Frontiers in April 2002, and demoed the system (Real or Windows Media, search for "Baseball Tech").